How to Start Office 2016 Word/Excel/PowerPoint in Safe Mode

Occasionally, your Microsoft Office 2016 app (such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) may encounter startup issues and cannot start normally. The causes are many, such as template corruption, file corruption, or add-ins/extensions from other incompatible software installed on your computer. In this case, Office safe mode can help you diagnose, debug, and fix the problems so that the Office app can start normally.

Mostly, once startup issues occur, when you open the Office app, it will automatically present a prompt dialog telling that safe mode could help you troubleshoot the problem and asking if you want to start the Office app in safe mode. You just need to click Yes.

How to start Office 2016 Word/Excel/PowerPoint in safe mode

Method 1: with Ctrl key

Step 1: Click the Office 2016 application while pressing and holding down the Ctrl key on your keyboard.

Step 2: When a prompt dialog asks if you want to start the application in safe mode, click Yes.

Method 2: through Run command

Press Win + R to open Run dialog, then type winword /safe in the box, and click OK. Then Word 2016 will start in safe mode. For Excel, type in excel /safe, and click OK. For PowerPoint, type powerpnt /safe, and click OK. For Outlook, type outlook /safe, and click OK.

Method 3: through Search box

In Windows 7/10, you can type the same command in the Start menu search box or in Cortana.

In Windows 8, you can type the same command in the Charm screen search box.

Tips:

When Office 2016 applications are opened in safe mode, some features are not available until you exit the safe mode and start the Office application in normal mode.